Arabellaâs POV~
Holy hotness! That coffee was hot!!! I ran into the kitchen and washed my face and armsâ¦already feeling the sting subsiding. I turned to chef and said âWish me luck?â And she just laughedâ¦so I head back to the dining room..
I entered to flat out chaos. The cacophony of shouting was deafening. I stepped to my seat and yelled âEnough! Everyone! Sit your asses down!â And they did! They actually did! I looked at each newcomer, in turn. Then, I spoke âHello Alpha McCallum..Mrs. McCallum..I am Arabella Sirces. I am Sebastianâs Goddess Goddess given mate. It wasnât a question of him choosing a mate..settling for less than the Goddess intended.. It never has been. I was not sent here by accident. More like, divine intervention. I am not certain what you have hoped to achieve by denying the Moon Goddess doctrines..by denying your people the right to their Goddess given right to a fated mate..but what I do know, is your reign is over. And now, a greater man stands in your stead. I had planned to express my gratitude to you for raising Sebastian to be such a good manâ¦a strong man. But now I see my mate is who he is..in Spite of you. Not Because of you! You should be ashamed of yourselves! All of you!â
Kaiden links Sebastian âI think the Queen has arrived â and Sebastian chuckles back âShe is a constant source of amazement!â
I look around the table and say âWe can all discuss this like the mature adults we are..or we can go our separate ways and forget this fiasco ever happened. Somehow, I doubt the latter will occur , so letâs open this conversation and keep it civil!â
Alfred McCallum spoke âYou have no right to question me, girl! You think the Moon Goddess assigns each of us someone who will love us unconditionally? Automatically? You think that would be a gift? To be forced into a lifelong relationship with someone we donât even know? That is a curse! A curse, you foolish girl! How ignorant must you be to believe That is in any way acceptable!?â
Sebastian roared âArabella is your Queen! And you will behave accordingly!â Alfred looks at Sebastian and said âNever raise your voice to me again, boy! You have no idea what I have gone through..the sacrifices I have made to make certain you were born with every advantage and strength only the strongest genes could provide. The lengths I have gone to, to arrange the most advantageous match to the crown! I have done everything for you! And for this kingdom!! And I will not sit idly by while thisâ¦usurper makes a move to undo any of my hard work, you ungrateful whelp!â
I interlaced my fingers with his and whispered âI got this.. they have to see me handle confrontation, if we hope for any kind of respect, my handsome mateâ He squeezed my hand and took several deep breathsâ¦.
I said âI am neither foolish, nor ignorantâ¦Though I do have my moments⦠but for the most part..nope.. neither of those things. I can see your point.. but I donât understand your reasoning. Unless you found your fated mate..and she didnât want you⦠or No! You did find her! Didnât you!!? And she didnât meet your high standards? Iâm right..arenât I? That is exactly what happened! Was your mate not good enough, Alfred? Becauseâ¦allow me to explain the Goddessâ doctrine.. Selene waits until we are 18..with most of us..then matches our souls with one she believes to be most compatible with us. We identify this person by scent and touch..our wolves automatically recognize the other half of their soul. Three irrefutable signs that is our mate. Now.. I explained that, to tell you this..our Goddess only matches the souls of her wolves. Is this registering with you? Because I really need you to follow along⦠Our wolves instinctively draw us close to our mateâ¦needing that soul connection..Butâ¦and this is a very big BUT..because it is important. Our human side has a myriad of emotions our wolf counterparts cannot decipher. They have five things running a litany through their mind at all times⦠Pack.. Hunt.. Eat.. Fight.. and MATE! Thatâs it! Thatâs the only things that run perpetually through their heads. Humans..now.. they are complicated. So many emotions they struggle to cope some days. And over half of those emotions are negative. And weaker humans simply allow the negative emotions to prevail. So, as I have said..the Goddess simply reunites us with the other half of our wolfâs soul. It is solely up to the human to WANT to pursue their mate⦠purely human emotions that allow us to fall in love..to find happiness..to spend our lives with our mate! We have to want to love them..or acceptance is off the table! So, again, Alfred⦠I ask youâ¦was your mate not GOOD ENOUGH?â
The table erupts with everyone talking at once and getting louder.. Sebastian leans over to me and whispers âI am so hard right now I could drive nails. Goddess I love you!â I busted out laughing and everyone looked our way. And not happily, I might add!
Alfred gives me the stank-eye and sneers âMy life in NO way concerns you girl! The doctrines are nonsense! Fairy tales told to children at bedtime! I refuse to allow MY people to dwell in a fantasy land! They were in need of a reality check and my council agreed! To teach a fallacy to an entire of kingdom is ludicrous! I will not stand idly by as MY son undoes everything I have done!â Sebastian roars âThese are MY people and MY kingdom and You have no further say in the running of it!â
A flash of light through the back doorsâ¦and the Goddess, Selene stands in our midst! I rose and walked into her arms and kiss her cheek.. I say âHi Momâ and the new members just gape at her. She walks over, holding my hand, and leans down to kiss Sebastianâs cheek and whispers âHello MY son..let mom take care of this.â
And she sits down.She says âOhhhâ¦coffee. I miss earthly things..but Coffee? I miss coffee the most!â And pours herself a cup. She looks at me and says âI have a full 30 minutes to spend today because Zeus was watching this bullshit with me! A full half hour and I have to waste it with these morons!â
And looks around the table, while the inner circle laugh. She says âHello Alfred? Still pissed off at me, it seems. Did you want to ask me how Rebecca is doing?â¦No? Well, allow me to tell everyone a little story⦠30 years ago, Alfred met a charming little theta she-wolf⦠Rebecca.. one of my favorite wolvesâ¦a good girl..a strong wolfâ¦heart of Gold that one! He was disappointed.. felt she wasnât âQueenly enoughâ and, even though his wolf begged and pleaded⦠Alfred rejected his fated mate. And Alfredâ¦how is your wolf?? Bentley is a good wolf. Another of my favorites. He will be reunited with the other half of his soul soon enough. Your influence has stretched far and wide, Alfred.. I am equally shocked and appalled.. I have been prevented from interfering in the earthly realm..and as such, had to wait for my daughter to come of age to rectify your mistakes! I never gave up on my wolves.. I have continued matching their souls..just kept the indicator of said mates hidden. You have no idea the domino effect you have brought to bear, Alfred. I had such hopes for you. You could have been a great King. You had been blessed as my anointed. Such a disappointment! Ahhh Somers! Your turn! You rejected your true mate in favor of money and notoriety! Look at you!! Your true mate committed suicideâ¦her wolf was so heartbroken she couldnât handle the pain..especially when you left her standing in the pouring rain to go fuck that whore you mated! Didnât know that did you? Once your mate is recognizedâ¦any sexual touch of another causes your mate severe physical pain. Rejecting your mate is serious! It causes untold strife! And Celiaâ¦poor pathetic, pitiful Celia. Sebastian is not your mate. He would never even choose you! You are a self serving..entitled little slut who spreads her legs for every swinging dick you lay eyes on! Such queenly behavior!!! Shana, you may want to change your waysâ¦find a heart..clean up your act a bit and for Goddess sakeâsâ¦someone tell this girl less is more! Do you have to remove that makeup with a putty knife!!? Your mate will most likely reject You, if you donât change your behaviors!â With that she stood and turned to face Sebastian and meâ¦.
Shana screamed out âWho are you to determine what my mate does? And where did you even come from? You donât know me! You donât know anything about meâ My mom laughsâ¦such a tinkling sound..and looks at Shana..points at her own chest and says âMoon Goddess, Shana! My children, I leave you with plenty of things to think about and many more to discuss..but I must leave you nowâ¦ohh..and one more thingâ¦Suck my left nut, Shanaâ and she poofed outta Dodge